Menu crisis nearly solved

[cjsmith]

There's a lot of easy stuff I can do, which is a relief.

- Cheese and dried meats platters w/crackers
- Dawn's Famous Hot Dogs In Crock Pot
- Rolled up lavosh sandwiches
- Chopped veggies w/dip
- Fancy olives
- Hummus (on crackers or veggies)
- Cookies, chocolate, etc
- Soft drinks, water, wine, beer

I must apologize to the person who suggested Whole Foods, because I think I'll have to pass up that idea; I took a look at their prices and... well, I didn't faint. (This is expensive already, and I'm not even buying wine -- we'll just wipe out my existing collection.) I am totally happy to chop and arrange a lot of cheese and veggies myself. Sadly, this means the platters won't look anywhere near as pretty.

Two questions left.

1) How do I know how much food I need? (Drinks I'm OK on.) One thing I'm giving up by not using a caterer is that I have to guess at this answer. Assume my menu is just what's written above, and I've got 35 or 40 people. How many pounds of cheese and dried meats are people going to stack onto how many crackers? How many tubs of hummus? How many double-handfuls of chopped celery/jicama/carrots? How many crock pots full of hot dog bits? Rob thinks I'm going overboard and is now threatening to invite more people and not tell me. :)

2) I now own more than one crock pot. If I want to offer an alternative to Hot Dogs In Tangy Sauce:
2a) where do I find and what do I do with party meatballs?
2b) what do I do with those Lil Smokies sausages if I'm too lazy to turn them into Pigs In Blankets? BBQ sauce?

I am keeping records. NEXT time, I will HAVE these answers, darnit. I won't panic. I'll know exactly how much money I should expect to spend if I am inviting "thirty plus spouses". I'll have the crock pots and I'll have the wine glasses and I'll have the serving trays. This could get to be a hobby. In fact, with this kind of initial outlay, it had better become a hobby!

Comments

[dangerpudding.livejournal.com]

1) I've found that in a party setting with fingerfood you need less food then for a meal (duh). On the other hand, some of that depends on your group and on how the food is set out.

In any case - for 30-40 people, a meal would call for 8-10lbs of meat, so I'd have 5-ish lbs of meat (if you're not doing bread, especially) and the same or a bit more cheese on hand. That may change if you do salami type meats and more interesting cheeses - people are usually a little less likely to pig out on brie.

Lots of crackers - - they last reasonably well, usually. Maybe pita chips for the hummus? (Trader Joes has those, as does costco.)

I'd get something approaching a gallon of hummus - costco probably has that, too. Also, hummus is terribly easy to make, and much cheaper and tastier that way.

3-4 bunches of celery, about the same amounts of other veggies.

(Silly question, but do you have a costco card? If not, I can help out there.. they do party trays for less insane prices, too, and have them ready-made.)

It's worth noting that I tend to over-buy for parties where most people underbuy. In my favor, I ended the summer in the arctic with not a lot left. Hard call. :)

2) Trader Joes carries meatballs. So does costco. I'd do lil'smokies with bbq sauce and maybe some raspberry jam.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I'd have 5-ish lbs of meat (if you're not doing bread, especially) and the same or a bit more cheese on hand.

OK, cool; this jives perfectly with ladycelia's answer above. I'll go lighter on the meat because I bought too much cheese. Leftovers here are fine, though -- meat and cheese are things I'll eat.

Wow, I don't usually think of TJ's hummus as expensive or icky, but you're the second person who has mentioned making it instead. I presume this requires a blender?

I actually don't have a Costco card. Thank you for the offer! I may well take you up on it. The only things I don't have yet are the meats, the veggies and dip, the fancy olives, and the hummus.